Haley and Kendall

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Easter festivities...

Haley had her Easter party at school last week. I'm sure she had fun at her Easter egg hunt, but it probably didn't compare to how much fun she's had at home with her eggs and her candy.

Here she is after arranging her eggs and candy (she has done this SEVERAL times).

From March April 2009

Kendall has enjoyed playing with the eggs, too. We'll have to make sure that the Easter bunny hides eggs for both Haley and Kendall to find on Easter morning this year.

From March April 2009

Our biggest Easter to do so far this year was the Pine Island spring party. We had SO MUCH FUN. It was a beautiful day. Here is a pic of Haley playing at the party last year.

From Pine Island Easter Carnival 2008

And here are pics of both my girls this year. We had a blast. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Unfortunately, I packed everything but the sun screen, so the girls definitely have a little sun burn today.

Here are Marynell and the girls just after we arrived.

From March April 2009

Kendall had no problem with the Easter bunny. Haley, on the other hand, did not smile for her picture because she was ready to play.

From March April 2009

Marynell and I both had turns riding the swings with Haley. The swings were her favorite - they didn't have those last year. Haley rode them at least 6 times.

From March April 2009

We played several of the games, including the basketball game.

From March April 2009

Haley was very determined to get cotton candy early on. She enjoyed it and even asked for more after lunch.

From March April 2009

We enjoyed the slide. Haley rode a few times...

From March April 2009

And Kendall and I rode once, too!

From March April 2009

Kendall got tired of riding in the stroller and being carried. When I finally put her down in the grass, she was much happier.

From March April 2009

We enjoyed a picnic of corn dogs, potato chips, and brownies.

From March April 2009

Haley rode the swings several times after lunch.

From March April 2009

The one ride the girls did together was the train.

From March April 2009

We will definitely look forward to doing this again next year...

From March April 2009

St Pattys Day Firsts...

Haley's first St Pattys Day...

From March April 2009

Kendall's first St. Pattys Day...

From March April 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Pulling up

Kendall has been pulling up for over a month- as the days go by, she seems less and less content with her view of the world from a sitting position. She's discovering all sorts of fun things to do as she pulls up and climbs over and into things.

She can see eye to eye with her puppy dogs by standing up at the back door...

From March April 2009

She helped organize her daddy's papers this weekend by opening his drawer and pulling stuff out (seriously, it was more organized when she was through with it than it was before).

From March April 2009

She has often stood at the front door to look outside. Today, though, she seemed to be telling us for the first time 'I want to play outside with the big kids!' Neighbors driving by stopped to look - they couldn't believe Kendall was standing at the front door.

From March April 2009

When Kendall disappears, I usually find her in her room playing with her toys. She will pull the toys out of her baskets and talk and play by herself for awhile before she crawls out to rejoin us.

From March April 2009

Haley came down with some sort of little bug on Friday. She didn't move off the couch and hardly spoke a word for a good 3 hours. She ran a fever on Friday and Saturday, but today she seems to have made a full recovery. She has run her mouth a mile a minute every waking moment today - as Kevin says, she's trying to make up for the past few days. Here she is conked out on the couch on Friday.

From March April 2009

Sunday, March 8, 2009

No Snow for Colatown

Schools (and my work) were cancelled late last Sunday afternoon in anticipation of the big snow storm. I was excited about the possibility of staying home and playing in the snow with Haley on Monday, but unfortunately...there was no snow. The girls wore their winter themed pajamas to bed Sunday night, but we woke up to a clear, sunny day.

From March April 2009

Since I had the day off, we enjoyed breakfast together at home, lunch with Marynell, and the afternoon at a play gym. Kendall got one of her first non baby food breakfasts - she had part of a blueberry muffin. She definitely enjoyed it, and she's since had grilled cheese sandwiches, jelly sandwiches, and pasta. Kevin has given her raisins and honey nut cheerios, too (I was not in the house when this happened).

From March April 2009

Kendall enjoyed standing at the train table at the play gym.

From March April 2009

Haley had a blast. She does such a great job making friends. She has no insecurities about walking right up to other kids she doesn't know and asking them to play with her or asking them to be her friend. She is very persistent, too, even when she's ignored.

From March April 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

And I thought we were busy before...

This is what I saw when I opened my bedroom door this morning after getting dressed...

From January February 2009

Just yesterday, at Kendall's 9 month appointment, when the doctor asked me if Kendall was pulling up much, I said no. She really has only started pulling up the past few days, and she hasn't done much of it until today. Every time Haley sees Kendall try to pull up on something, she says 'Mom, you're in trouble now!' She's right.

Kendall crawled backwards for awhile before she figured out how to go forward. During that time, I found her in lots of corners and under furniture ;) The last weekend before she figured out how to go forward, she started getting frustrated that she couldn't get the toys in front of her - the harder she tried to move forward, the further away she got from her target! For the most part, though, she was still happy just to be moving.

From January February 2009

Kendall started moving forward at the end of January - she was 8 1/2 months old, the same age Haley was when she started moving forward. She has enjoyed exploring everything on her own, and Haley sometimes enjoys crawling with her.

From January February 2009

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday to celebrate with Haley. There's no stress and busyness like there is at Christmas, and I really enjoy making Valentines with her. Unfortunately, Haley got sick a few days before Valentine's day this year (and she's still fighting something), so we had to cut some of our plans back. However, we still had fun.

This was my first Valentine's Day photo shoot with TWO little princesses to dress up!

From January February 2009

We didn't get to make as many Valentines as we wanted to, but Haley still got to decorate Valentines for all of her classmates and some of her other friends, too. She had fun choosing stickers and decorating the Valentines with glitter and markers. She wrote the 'Hal' to sign her name on most of the Valentines; I did the 'ey.' Next year, Kendall may be able to join in and make some Valentines of her own.

From January February 2009

I was hoping Haley and I could make and decorate cupcakes together for her class party, but with Haley sick, that didn't work out. Marynell jumped in to save the day, as always, and made us chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting (Haley's choice, of course). She used heart shape cupcake holders and decorated the cakes with sprinkles. Haley's friends at school enjoyed the cupcakes. Haley went to her party for a few minutes - I thought she was feeling better, but she was worn out and didn't stay at school too long.

From January February 2009

Haley enjoyed opening all the Valentines from her friends! This is something I remember from elementary school - I LOVED opening all the Valentines from my classmates.

From January February 2009

Haley with her presents from Marynell.

From January February 2009

Guess what Kendall did with her presents??

From January February 2009

Marynell and her Valentines:

From January February 2009

And yes, Marynell made Haley's dress. Haley wore it last year as well.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas was a whirlwind this year...we had a Christmas meal with the Starnes extended family, with the Starnes immediate family, with the Wootens, the Jenkins, and again a few days after Christmas with my parents.

Here is the youngest generation of Starnes. We kept Kendall happy through this picture taking process by saying 'yea, Kendall' and encouraging her to clap her hands.

From Christmas 2008

Baby Savannah slept through most of the activities.

From Christmas 2008

Haley and Jackson.

From Christmas 2008

Haley, Kathryn, Abigail & Olivia.

From Christmas 2008

Haley and Kendall, applauding each other at Grandmama and Papa's house.

From Christmas 2008

My happy baby girl.

From Christmas 2008

Grandmama led the kids in telling the nativity story by using a kid's nativity set.

From Christmas 2008

We love it when the daddies and the uncles help with barbies ;) This barbie doll was a big hit with Haley this year...we've acquired several additional barbies and accessories since.

From Christmas 2008

At the Wooten's...Kendall's the only grandchild who is allowed to sit on the table.

From Christmas 2008

Maynee reads Kendall the book she gave her for Christmas.

From Christmas 2008

Just as she did last year, Haley distributed most of the presents - she helped open some, too.

From Christmas 2008

Cousin Charlie is so silly.

From Christmas 2008

Santa brought Kendall a new bouncy seat to hang in the doorway. Kendall enjoyed it - it took her awhile to get the hang of the bouncing, though.

From Christmas 2008

Santa brought Haley 3 princess dresses (surprise, surprise) - including this Aladin dress.

From Christmas 2008

Kendall expresses enthusiasm over her gifts.

From Christmas 2008

Kendall tried on the cowgirl hat that Santa brought her big sis.

From Christmas 2008

At Aunt Cicely's house, we got to visit with more family, including baby Marie. She's a few months older than Kendall, and into everything.

From Christmas 2008

Jake and Kendall.

From Christmas 2008

We watched Chevy Chases's Christmas vacation...and no, it was not censored for the little ears ;) However, they did not seem to remember any of the not so rated G language.

From Christmas 2008

At Marynell's house, Kevin shows one of the gifts Marynell got Kendall. Yes, he really was that excited for Kendall to get her very own Snow White dress.